We have had a busy couple of weeks in Second Grade!
During our Daily Five blocks, the children have been introduced to two more components of Daily Five which are Listen to Reading and Work on Writing. It has also been very exciting to begin reading groups! The groups worked on making predictions before reading and enjoyed reading books at their individual levels.
During Listen to Reading, the children use an ipad to listen to stories. They do this through either RAZ Kids or Tumblebooks, which is offered through the JV Fletcher Library Website. You can get Tumblebooks at home by following the link for "Tumblebooks Library" on the kids page of the library website http://www.westfordlibrary.org/pages/JVFletcherLibrary_JustforKids/index. The books are free to listen to, as long as you have a library card! The purpose of Listen to Reading is to model what fluent and expressive reading sounds like. The RAZ Kids program (login information is in your child's Take Home folder) also allows the children to answer comprehension questions about the stories they are listening to in order to help with their comprehension skills.
The children have many different choices for Work on Writing. They can write a personal narrative story, a make-believe story, or choose one of our many Work on Writing Task Cards which include fun activities such as: making a postcard, writing a letter, making lists, poems, and many other exciting writing choices. We are encouraging the kids to slow down and focus on quality writing rather than quantity.
In math, we finished up Unit 1, which was a great review of skills the children learned in first grade. The children took their Unit 1 Assessment, which was sent home for you to review with your child. If you haven't sent it back signed, I would appreciate if you can do so. We also began Unit 2 which focuses on Fact Strategies. The children have learned about grouping by tens, how to write number stories, and how to use doubles and combinations of ten/making ten to help them solve addition problems more efficiently.
We also finished up our Apple Economics unit. We had the opportunity to learn about other types of goods and how they are produced. Each child chose one of the following to study: Sheep to Sweater, Milk to Cheese, Clay to Bricks, Oil to Gas, or Wheat to Bread. It was a great culminating activity. It allowed the children to discuss who the producer, consumer, good, etc were for these products as well, along with the apple products we discussed throughout the unit.
During writing, the children are working on their first draft of their first personal narrative stories. We have spent time talking about ways to begin their stories. Some examples include: a detailed setting, quote, sound word, or a question. We also worked on writing the middle of their stories and making sure that they told the story in sequential order using transition words to help them move from one event to the next. Their stories are really coming out great! Next week we will talk about endings, revising and editing, and hope to have some time to share their stories with the class.
We also had a wonderful trip to the Living Lab! It was a great introduction into our first Science Unit "Plant and Animal Survival" that we began this week as well. The children had a chance to visit the Reed Brook and observe the plants and animals that live in that habitat. Inside we learned about various living things and how they depend on one another for survival. Each child was either a plant or animal that lives in the brook and they got to physically see how many living things they each depend on.
Finally, the kids got to learn about frogs and how they adapt to their environment. We learned about the various types of feet they have (webbed, digging, sticky) and how they use camouflage to help them survive in their habitat. We look forward to going back to the Living Lab in the Spring!
If you signed up to volunteer in the classroom you should have received an email from me with your dates. If you didn't receive an email, please let me know.
Upcoming Dates:
Wednesday, October 4th- Picture Day
Monday, October 9th- No School, Columbus Day
Tuesday, October 10th- No School, Professional Development
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